Effnet Signs VAR Deal with Monarch Communications

Effnet Signs VAR Deal with Monarch Communications October 12, 1999, Stockholm, Sweden - Today Effnet Inc. announced an agreement with network services and equipment provider Monarch Communications, Inc. (Oakland, Calif.) in which Monarch will resell products from the Effnet FTC Series for use in broadband multimedia networks. Monarch sells network services, equipment, and connectivity solutions for a range of markets and applications. The Effnet products will be key components in broadband networks geared to deliver IP multicast and services such as video-on-demand to hotels and multi-dwelling units (MDUs). "Monarch Communications is working on a number of exciting, high profile projects that are perfect applications for Effnet technology, leveraging the high bandwidth and advanced security capabilities of the FTC Series," said Jim Spoerl, President, Effnet. "There are trials under way and we hope to be able to announce customers soon." Vincent May, Monarch Communications CEO, said "We looked at a number of vendors, including the top names in the business. Effnet's FTC line offered the unique combination of high performance, high security, and multicast capabilities in a small, low-cost footprint." For further information please contact CEO Tomas Althén, +46 708 15 16 15 or e-mail tomas@effnet.com or Bob Geller, PR@vantage, +1 212 840 5905 or e-mail bob@pr-vantage.com The Effnet FTC Series The Effnet FTC Series breaks conventional performance barriers and proves that Gigabit performance can be achieved without the need for proprietary hardware. Products include an integrated firewall/router system (FTC 500FR) and a high- performance router (FTC 1000R). Effnet's FTC 500FR is an integrated firewall/routing solution that performs more than 500,000 filtering decisions per second. With the FTC 500FR, there is never a trade off between high security and high performance, since the performance is largely independent of the complexity of the configuration. The FTC 500FR is targeted to larger companies that require high reliability and top performance. The FTC 1000R is a world-class IP router, with an outstanding price- performance relationship. It is a secure, reliable and versatile solution, ideally suited for demanding network environments. The FTC 1000R is capable of forwarding 1,000,000 IP packets per second regardless of protocol type or routing table size. Based on the Effnet packet forwarding technology, the FTC 1000R facilitates top-class performance by using industry-standard hardware. The FTC 1000R series provides world-class dynamic routing and is equipped with industry-standard routing protocols, including RIP, OSPF and BGP-4. Multicast routing is supported through DVMRP, which enables flexible multicast tunneling over long distances as well as high-speed direct multicast in closely related networks. About Effnet Effnet was established in the spring of 1997 based on the revolutionary results of a research project at Luleå University of Technology in Sweden. These results are the foundation of the Effnet algorithm. Effnet now has 45 employees and is expanding rapidly. Research and development are based in Luleå. In 1998, the company opened a sales and marketing office in Boston, Massachusetts and an additional office in Stockholm, Sweden. The company's technology has been field tested and proven via a line of firewall products initially marketed exclusively in Sweden. Server-based, PCI add-on products powered by Effnet's algorithm will become available in the coming months. Effnet's mission is to develop and market multifunction-networking products that deliver outstanding performance at affordable prices. By using highly efficient algorithms and data structures, Effnet technology breaks conventional performance barriers for table-lookups and filtering operations delivering low cost but high performance networking and telecommunications "accelerators" for PC and Web servers, and turn-key routing and security solutions. Effnet Group AB shares are publicly traded on Stockholm Stock Exchange's New Market (EFFN). Additional information about Effnet is available through the Web at www.effnet.com About Monarch Communications, Inc. Monarch Communications, Inc. offers a broad range of communications services designed to meet the needs of enterprise, multi-dwelling unit (MDU) and office park customers. These include colocation services, the leasing of bandwidth via satellite and an extensive dark fiber network, and privately peered DS-3, OC-3, OC-12 connectivity options. Additional information is available through the Web at www.monarchcom.net and by calling +1 510 986 0393. ------------------------------------------------------------ Please visit http://www.bit.se for further information The following files are available for download: http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/10/12/19991012BIT00150/bit0001.doc http://www.bit.se/bitonline/1999/10/12/19991012BIT00150/bit0002.pdf